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Monday, April 11, 2011

Is Disability Studies Marxist?

I created My Disability Studies Blackboard because it was difficult to properly discuss Disability Studies in posts limited to 140 characters on Twitter.  I'll still be posting on Twitter, but lengthier posts or "discussions" will be linked to this blog. (You can follow me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/#!/Hephaestus7)

I once asked Professor Lennard Davis, a leading authority, whether Disability Studies was Marxist.  He replied: "I think it would be a too blanket a statement to say that Disability Studies was marxist or neo-marxist. The UK version of DS is definitely marxist in nature: their idea of the social model is marxist.  See Len Barton, Mike Oliver, Colin Barnes for work that indicates this. In the US the marxist thread isn't there.  DS in the US is a liberal kind of study mostly taking its cue from the civil rights movement and cultural studies."  

I think it's important to be mindful of his reply when reading the articles below:


http://www.mediationsjournal.org/articles/marxism-and-disability
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/Abberley/chapter%202.pdf

All the best,

Samuel

P.S. I considered naming this blog "Big Tweets" but I didn't want to ruffle Twitter's feathers.









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